Great take on my new bass by Trevor Lindsey, who had his hands on it tweaking the circuit and setup. I should add that I'm not in a 'Mac tribute band, as shared in the video, but I do love McVie's playing for sure, and would like to see this McVie tribute model offered in the Alembic lineup.. I can't share enough how much I appreciate Mica and Trevor making this incredible build happen, in such a detailed, organic and artful execution. When I picked it up the people at Alembic, Mica, Mary, Bob, Chris, James, and Jesse greeted me and treated me like family; each talking to me about the build and sharing the journey stories, while adding tips and info about my build. I wish I could have seen Ron and Susan (who used to get a kick out of talking to me on the phone, the young Texas-accented boy who had 3 new Alembics in the late 70's) It's a very special bass with, like Trevor shared, a strong authorative tone--in person it reminds me of the punchy 70's radio bass sounds we love. The balance and playability is just perfect. The only upcoming change to this versatile and custom circuit will be the caramel pickups in the works, and also making the bass and treble controls global and usable on both pickups-instead of only on the bridge pickup as it is currently. Here's the video 

And that, so they say, is that. 😎

Indeed.

Great back story on the bass and your receiving it!

Curious as to what palette of tones is available with the current circuit.
The description of it seems odd, but what is the Sound really like? 

If using an Alembic circuit package that includes a filter along with with treble and bass controls...in this scenario, when a mid or lower filter frequency knob position is chosen, the treble control boost function is taken out of play because a lower frequency point choice of the filter can affect the effective higher range performance of the treble control. I personally only use the filter on my Series 1 Bass on my neck pickup, and I set it at 70 to 60% rotation of the pot. I leave my Series 1 bridge pickup with higher or highest range of the filter pot. My custom package was mistakenly delivered with the Bass and Treble controls only on the bridge pickup, and will soon have both pickups sharing those controls. Think of the filter only on the neck pickup as a pseudo mid voicing control or for other tones, too. All the while still allowing treble extension to be available and boosted on the bridge pickup, and of course bass to be boosted or adjusted on both pickups.

Very cool bass that sounds and looks great, I'm sure the Fatboys add to that rich full tone too 😊

John's playing, and connection to Alembic are a very big part of how I wound up here at all, so I've been enjoying Keith's custom build vicariously from way over here on the other side of the continent. I've obsessed over the source instrument to this bass for years, not just as John McVie's Series bass, but such an early example of Alembic's work. So seeing it finally come together has been an 'edge of the seat' thing. Mica sent me the very first picture of Keith playing it in the office there last week. Wow, what a bass. And I swear the birdseye maple could be from the same boards as my custom. 😊

I've already said it in several places, but again; Well Done. Everyone. 

Very cool bass — I may have admired it during a couple visits to the Mothership.

Quote from: rv_bass on September 10, 2026, 05:12:13 PMVery cool bass that sounds and looks great, I'm sure the Fatboys add to that rich full tone too 😊

The Fatboys can cut through in any scenario, and being in a high-gain capable Alembic circuit they are also touch sensitive and dynamic if the gain trims are raised. Happy with them.

Very nice looking and sounding bass! Only thing I don't like is that metal extension piece. It just looks odd to me. Personally I would miss the filter on the bridge pickup. I use that more than the neck pickup filter myself.

Quote from: KR on September 10, 2026, 04:04:56 PMIf using an Alembic circuit package that includes a filter along with with treble and bass controls...in this scenario, when a mid or lower filter frequency knob position is chosen, the treble control boost function is taken out of play because a lower frequency point choice of the filter can affect the effective higher range performance of the treble control. I personally only use the filter on my Series 1 Bass on my neck pickup, and I set it at 70 to 60% rotation of the pot. I leave my Series 1 bridge pickup with higher or highest range of the filter pot. My custom package was mistakenly delivered with the Bass and Treble controls only on the bridge pickup, and will soon have both pickups sharing those controls. Think of the filter only on the neck pickup as a pseudo mid voicing control or for other tones, too. All the while still allowing treble extension to be available and boosted on the bridge pickup, and of course bass to be boosted or adjusted on both pickups.

I am fascinated by how you arrived at this, and how it functions Keith. I remember we talked about it, and how and why I used East-Meets-West controls on my custom. It's interesting, because I (almost) do the opposite. I do still favor that neck pickup but I tend to use the two-band eq to cut treble and boost bass on the bridge side if anything. Mostly they are flat, parked at center detent. My bass has the pan sweep rather than pickup selector though, so all bets are off on that blend... kind of a moving target. 

We have to get those two together one day!

Quote from: Barend on September 11, 2026, 03:12:43 AMVery nice looking and sounding bass! Only thing I don't like is that metal extension piece. It just looks odd to me. Personally I would miss the filter on the bridge pickup. I use that more than the neck pickup filter myself.

I can plug the neck or bridge pickup into the filter depending on what I need.